T-Trak The N scale Pennsy Juniata Division 2.0 - TTrak!

[Point353]

That's where I got this.

Apologies if you thought my post was questioning you about the MUTCD.
I concluded that you had by the line dimensions/specifications that you mentioned.
Instead, I was trying to determine whether or not Bob Glimore had read it.

[Dave V]

Apologies if you thought my post was questioning you about the MUTCD.
I concluded that you had by the line dimensions/specifications that you mentioned.
Instead, I was trying to determine whether or not Bob Glimore had read it.

Oh, no apologies necessary. I know @robert3985 means very well with his post, but as I'd said in a previous post, the road striping and width was in accordance with the MUTCD, which you were kind enough to link directly to. No, no worries at all...you just helped make my point.

Folks who know me know that I love research, and that I don't start a model without a ton of it.

[x600]

When I think about guardrails on a rural PA state highway, I see the thick wooded posts with the angle cut on top and the steel cable strung between them.
If my memory is correct, they were painted white. Not that I feel you should do the tedious job of stringing wire on the tiny little posts, but it sure would look cool.
I rounded 3 corners on my 69 Roadrunner on these posts after hitting black ice on PA 940 in Pocono Pines. I might have missed them if I had power steering.

Did I mention that it would look cool?

Greg O.

[packers#1]

Honestly I was excited about the billboard idea before but now I'm wondering if it'll be distracting.

At the risk of telling you what to do on your own modules like everyone else Dave, unless it’s a ton of effort you might as well just give it a go and install one to see how you feel about it in situ. Worst case it’s a couple bucks down the drain and a little patching of the scenery if you don’t like it, but would make for a good photo prop when shooting trains from the shoulder of the road if nothing else.

[dem34]

The beauty of TTrak modules is you can put an idea in your back pocket and use it later on another module. I'm in camp minimalism for Utility modules. Corners, Yards, 1 inch wonders. If anything it makes them easier to transport in bulk if there are minimal things to break on them.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The beauty of TTrak modules is you can put an idea in your back pocket and use it later on another module. I'm in camp minimalism for Utility modules. Corners, Yards, 1 inch wonders. If anything it makes them easier to transport in bulk if there are minimal things to break on them.

Agreed. I like having stuff that's not particularly special when I just need something utility. These modules also tend to be less prototypical too and having less "stuff" on them lets them recede into the background easier.

[Dave V]

Agreed. I like having stuff that's not particularly special when I just need something utility. These modules also tend to be less prototypical too and having less "stuff" on them lets them recede into the background easier.

Ah, but @Ed Kapuscinski , you'd likely be the first to admit that having less "stuff" on them is more prototypical. Even in the relatively densely-populated "East," much more of the railroad is running alone in the countryside versus alongside some easily-recognizable landmark.

I've spent enough time in central PA both as a student and as a railfan to appreciate just how "middle of nowhere" much of the Middle Division really is.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ah, but @Ed Kapuscinski , you'd likely be the first to admit that having less "stuff" on them is more prototypical. Even in the relatively densely-populated "East," much more of the railroad is running alone in the countryside versus alongside some easily-recognizable landmark.

I've spent enough time in central PA both as a student and as a railfan to appreciate just how "middle of nowhere" much of the Middle Division really is.

100% It's why even my "focus" modules are pretty "middle of nowhere".

[randgust]

This is as close as I've come, which is the scene across the Allegheny River from where I grew up - PRR Salamanca Branch - my Ttrak "Thompson" module.



Link:  http://www.randgust.com/THOMMOD26.jpg

And if you're really OCD, you can find that location on the Allegheny between Thompson and R. Thompson islands, west side, the valley on the right with the concrete bridge is Pennsylvania Hollow.   Track is long gone, but the 1864 roadbed and the concrete bridges are still around.

Most of my modules have at least something going on, try to make them not crowded.   But prototypically, the West Hickory module was darn tight around the depot, tannery, crossing, etc.

That shot is before the river water was poured, I think Ed got some more shots at Altoona, but I've fished off those rocks on the left edge.  My finished version does have a canoe in the river and a fisherman on that rock, so it isn't completely dead space, but you have to search for it.

[Dave V]

Less is definitely more with a lot of this. My previous Juniata Division was woefully short on negative space. Would rather this one not be as ell.

I have two standard single-length module kits arriving via UPS any minute now. One will just be scenic Middle Division, and the other just scenic Lancaster County (Philadelphia Division) running with catenary poles. Debating making the cat poles removable to make the modules less fragile.

[Dave V]

Just for schnitzengiggles, I wanted to see what this might look like with catenary poles. No, I'm not adding them to this particular module. No, I haven't painted the cat poles yet. No, the cat poles would not be this close together (I needed the trackside line poles to prop them up so was constrained by that spacing).

But... Much as I love the Middle Division, my exposure to the former Pennsy as an impressionable young train nut was in Lancaster County. The Keystone Corridor, the Atglen & Susquehanna Low Grade Line, and the Columbia & Port Deposit branch. When I first rode this section of Pennsy as a little guy in the 70s, black Amtrak GG1s were still powering trains. Additionally, the old Budd Silverliners were in use.

Pennsy under the wire had a very unique vibe of its own, defined in a large part by its nothing-else-in-the-world-like-it catenary infrastructure. So, I'll be doing a couple modules under the wires.

[eja]

Just for schnitzengiggles, I wanted to see what this might look like with catenary poles. N

Pennsy under the wire had a very unique vibe of its own, defined in a large part by its nothing-else-in-the-world-like-it catenary infrastructure. So, I'll be doing a couple modules under the wires.

Completely agree with that.  If you don't already have one, get a copy of Under Pennsy Wires by Paul Carlton.

[Dave V]

Completely agree with that.  If you don't already have one, get a copy of Under Pennsy Wires by Paul Carlton.

Yep. This is also a dirty book full of pure filth:

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[Point353]

Just for schnitzengiggles, I wanted to see what this might look like with catenary poles. No, I'm not adding them to this particular module. No, I haven't painted the cat poles yet. No, the cat poles would not be this close together (I needed the trackside line poles to prop them up so was constrained by that spacing).

But... Much as I love the Middle Division, my exposure to the former Pennsy as an impressionable young train nut was in Lancaster County. The Keystone Corridor, the Atglen & Susquehanna Low Grade Line, and the Columbia & Port Deposit branch. When I first rode this section of Pennsy as a little guy in the 70s, black Amtrak GG1s were still powering trains. Additionally, the old Budd Silverliners were in use.

Pennsy under the wire had a very unique vibe of its own, defined in a large part by its nothing-else-in-the-world-like-it catenary infrastructure. So, I'll be doing a couple modules under the wires.

How about a Leaman Place module, with the electrified PRR tracks in front and the Strasburg tracks toward the back?

Go back far enough and there was a station at that location.

[Dave V]

How about a Leaman Place module, with the electrified PRR tracks in front and the Strasburg tracks toward the back?

Go back far enough and there was a station at that location.

That's crossed my mind! That's in the "someday" pile.

For now I have the following module plans:

1) Corner - "Mapleton" - Done
2) Corner - "Narrows" - Done
3) Double - "Jacks" - Interlocking with tower and operating signals - Under construction
4) Double - "Ryde" - 8-arch stone bridge crossing the Juniata River just west of Lewistown - Under construction
5) Single - "TBD" - Generic Middle Division - Just received module base kit
6) Single - "Lancaster" - Generic Lancaster County under catenary - Just received module base kit
7) Double - "Huntingdon East" - Huntingdon depot and town - Working on structures
8 ) Double - "Huntingdon West" - HUNT Tower and JC Blair paper factory - Working on structures
9) End cap half circle - "Harrisburg" - Just received catenary poles and located my kit for HARRIS tower.

That's enough to keep a man busy for a while.

I know everyone's got a "How about doing X?" suggestion but barring something unbelievably amazing, this is my plan for now.

Future bits may include Lehman Place Jct, the Bethlehem Steel Plant at Highspire, and a long visible staging yard meant to look like Enola and/or Altoona.